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Outrage in Okinawa

The accusation against two American sailors for the rape of a woman in Okinawa in October has worsened tensions on the island, already inflamed by the recent deployment of the troubled MV-22 Osprey aircraft to the Marine Corps base in the city of Ginowan. Okinawans may be running out of adjectives to express their resentment and anger at being unwilling hosts for more than half of the 50,000 American military personnel stationed in Japan.

Many Okinawans believe, with justification, that their views are irrelevant to the Japanese government and the United States, whose geopolitical priorities trump local concerns about jet crashes, noise, environmental destruction and crime. That has not stopped protesters from tirelessly raising objections, most strongly in 1995, when three servicemen gang-raped a schoolgirl, and in September, when tens of thousands demonstrated against the deployment of the Osprey.

One of the latest incidents to prompt outrage was the charging of Seaman Christopher Browning and Petty Officer Third Class Skyler Dozierwalker, accused of sexually assaulting the woman as she was heading home. United States officials apologized and imposed a nighttime curfew. Okinawa’s governor, Hirokazu Nakaima, wants Japan and the United States to revise their Status of Forces Agreement to make it easier to investigate crimes by Americans and to deliver accused service members to the Japanese justice system. (The sailors are in Japanese custody, because local police got to them before the United States did.)

The Defense Department will resist, fearing what it would mean for similar agreements elsewhere. America’s continued military presence in Japan is important to regional stability. But Washington needs to be more responsive to legitimate Okinawan concerns. It should impose stricter limits on its troops’ behavior and more effective training and oversight. And it should move swiftly to lighten its presence on Okinawa, by shifting troops to Guam, Hawaii and elsewhere in Japan. Okinawans will feel safer and less aggrieved only when they believe that Japan and the United States are taking their objections seriously.

A version of this editorial appears in print on November 3, 2012, on Page A22 of the New York edition with the headline: Outrage in Okinawa. Today's Paper|Subscribe